I spoke to Pushkar a couple of weeks ago about doing a review of another manufacturers E-bike and he was fine with it so here goes.
There is an e-bike guy over in the UK that I guess has a pretty good following as far as DIY e-bike mods. He has some you tube videos on fast bikes as well as a build up on this particular frame/motor combo. He uses much higher end components on his build and it's just to show you what could be done if you choose to.
A couple of friends of mine ordered these bikes one in Nov. 2019 and one in Dec. 2019.
The bike ordered in Nov. arrived early February minus the battery which came about 3 weeks later. Still waiting on the Dec. bike order. Almost no communication as to status or delivery date on either bike. So I ( squeaky wheel) e-mailed Andy Kirby at the Cloudsto website as to any updates on delivery and the guy actually replied the next day saying that the bikes were shipping from China the next week. About 3 weeks after that is when my buddy got contacted by DOT. The next week he got his bike.
Most of the bike was pre assembled and packed adequately to protect it from any damage as it made it's way from China to San Diego.
Upfront cost of the bike when ordered was 3,400 euros which is about $4,114 US. They do state on their website ( if you search for it, and you gotta search it's not upfront ) that any additional fees to be paid by customer. Which we couldn't find any info on so we waited to see how it all shook out. Well my buddy got a call from the DOT about a week before receiving his bike saying that his item had arrived to the states and he was required to pay a VAT tax before they would release it to be delivered. $870 was the fee. So now he's in about 5k.
All the components that should of come with the build were listed on the website.
Right away we noticed that the front fork and rear shock were different. Front fork should of been a Rockshox Yari but he got a DNM USD=6A model. Inverted and has 150mm travel and has (2) brake caliper mounts on the lowers, odd. NO air fill on this shock so Im guessing oil damper on the rt side and spring on the left. Not sure if this shock is serviceable or not.
ALERT ALERT the front fork comes with a through axle that is different than what I have normally seen. It is a hollow sleeve with threads on the inside of both ends and threaded caps that screw on to both sides to secure. Then you need to tighten up the two sets of bolts on the bottom of the forelegs to keep it all in place. Only problem is when you need to remove the wheel and you unscrew the two endocarp bolts and loosen up the fork leg bolts nothing comes apart. We had to use a drift pin punch to remove the sleeve.
So I put on my thinking cap and remembered that I had a couple of the same diameter thru axles from some rigid forks I never used. They were for 150mm dropouts and it only has "One" removable threaded cap on the end and the other side is fixed. So we removed the old and fit up the new and yes it did indeed fit perfect with no spacers or anything and we were able to keep the allen wrench in the head and turn the whole assembly out to remove without much trouble. Otherwise using these forks with original set up you would probably be screwed and not be able to remove without pounding it to pieces. Forgot to address this in original post so I'm adding it now.
The rear shock should of been a X-fusion o2 and he got another DNM A042RC model. I found this same shock on Amazon for $97.30 so a bit of a switcharoo if you ask me.
So no explanation as to why they substituted components and no verbiage on the spec build sheet as far as see about swapping parts. When my buddy contacted AK about the items he said that "China" substituted those and he couldn't do anything about it.
L A M E I bet if my friend decided to send a little less $ he might of had a different response. No credit back, no "hey we can't supply those parts or we will give you a credit on the difference or not supply the parts and adjust your cost. So heads up if your thinking about this bike.
As far as I can tell these bikes ( or at least one so far ) are the first to get into the US so zero feedback anywhere I could find.
Anyway back to the bike. Frame looks good and workmanship seems ok. One feature I like is the rear triangle looks big enough for a 29" tire if you wanted to run those and the front fork being inverted gives you that option as well up front, or go mullet. Non-boost spacing on the hubs so 100mm and 142mm front and back. Tires are legit Schwalbe 2.6". Hubs are low quality Quanta brand and the rims are no-name but are double wall and seem pretty beefy, spokes are black steel with chrome nipples. Seat and seatpost seem ok also. Brake rotors are 1800mm front and back and brakes are 2 piston Magura. Stem and handlebars are fine. Shimano 10 spd Deore shifter and derailed are ok. The motor is the stock Bafang G510/M620 and the label on bottom says 52v I thought they all were 48v? I know the upgraded motor and Archon controller I got from Pushkar is labeled 48v and he knows I'm running a 52v battery so...?. Came with cranks and pedals which were wall mart stock.
So we replaced the 170mm crankarms with some 160mm and threw on some decent crankbros pedals. A new KMC E-chain and replaced the steel chainring as well with a race face 40t. We found a dropper for a good $ and installed that as well as a WTB seat. New grips and we were done with the bike portion that is.
So next up we fabricated up a template for the battery (52v 34.5ahr) and modified the original mounting pads to fit. Did a little rewiring on the motor leads and mounted the battery in it's bag and we were good to go.
My buddy has probably a dozen of so rides on it so far and he is really happy with the ride. He had a bit to much air in the rear shock and after bleeding off a bit it made a big difference in ride quality. I have ridden it 2x and the throttle works fine but the PAS is not as smooth as mine IMO. IMO is the bike worth a 3 month wait and have critical parts substituted with no recourse and a stock G510 motor all for 5k? I wouldn't do it again knowing what I know now. I would of bought just the frame maybe and got an upgraded motor from Mr. P and put my own parts on it. I bet for the same 5k I could of been better quality and it would of given me something to do. Live and learn. Looks like they are not stocking those bikes on that original site to sell. Covid, import issues? Hopefully the second bike gets here fairly soon and we can get that one running and move onto bigger and better things. Thanks for listening.
There is an e-bike guy over in the UK that I guess has a pretty good following as far as DIY e-bike mods. He has some you tube videos on fast bikes as well as a build up on this particular frame/motor combo. He uses much higher end components on his build and it's just to show you what could be done if you choose to.
A couple of friends of mine ordered these bikes one in Nov. 2019 and one in Dec. 2019.
The bike ordered in Nov. arrived early February minus the battery which came about 3 weeks later. Still waiting on the Dec. bike order. Almost no communication as to status or delivery date on either bike. So I ( squeaky wheel) e-mailed Andy Kirby at the Cloudsto website as to any updates on delivery and the guy actually replied the next day saying that the bikes were shipping from China the next week. About 3 weeks after that is when my buddy got contacted by DOT. The next week he got his bike.
Most of the bike was pre assembled and packed adequately to protect it from any damage as it made it's way from China to San Diego.
Upfront cost of the bike when ordered was 3,400 euros which is about $4,114 US. They do state on their website ( if you search for it, and you gotta search it's not upfront ) that any additional fees to be paid by customer. Which we couldn't find any info on so we waited to see how it all shook out. Well my buddy got a call from the DOT about a week before receiving his bike saying that his item had arrived to the states and he was required to pay a VAT tax before they would release it to be delivered. $870 was the fee. So now he's in about 5k.
All the components that should of come with the build were listed on the website.
Right away we noticed that the front fork and rear shock were different. Front fork should of been a Rockshox Yari but he got a DNM USD=6A model. Inverted and has 150mm travel and has (2) brake caliper mounts on the lowers, odd. NO air fill on this shock so Im guessing oil damper on the rt side and spring on the left. Not sure if this shock is serviceable or not.
ALERT ALERT the front fork comes with a through axle that is different than what I have normally seen. It is a hollow sleeve with threads on the inside of both ends and threaded caps that screw on to both sides to secure. Then you need to tighten up the two sets of bolts on the bottom of the forelegs to keep it all in place. Only problem is when you need to remove the wheel and you unscrew the two endocarp bolts and loosen up the fork leg bolts nothing comes apart. We had to use a drift pin punch to remove the sleeve.
So I put on my thinking cap and remembered that I had a couple of the same diameter thru axles from some rigid forks I never used. They were for 150mm dropouts and it only has "One" removable threaded cap on the end and the other side is fixed. So we removed the old and fit up the new and yes it did indeed fit perfect with no spacers or anything and we were able to keep the allen wrench in the head and turn the whole assembly out to remove without much trouble. Otherwise using these forks with original set up you would probably be screwed and not be able to remove without pounding it to pieces. Forgot to address this in original post so I'm adding it now.
The rear shock should of been a X-fusion o2 and he got another DNM A042RC model. I found this same shock on Amazon for $97.30 so a bit of a switcharoo if you ask me.
So no explanation as to why they substituted components and no verbiage on the spec build sheet as far as see about swapping parts. When my buddy contacted AK about the items he said that "China" substituted those and he couldn't do anything about it.
L A M E I bet if my friend decided to send a little less $ he might of had a different response. No credit back, no "hey we can't supply those parts or we will give you a credit on the difference or not supply the parts and adjust your cost. So heads up if your thinking about this bike.
As far as I can tell these bikes ( or at least one so far ) are the first to get into the US so zero feedback anywhere I could find.
Anyway back to the bike. Frame looks good and workmanship seems ok. One feature I like is the rear triangle looks big enough for a 29" tire if you wanted to run those and the front fork being inverted gives you that option as well up front, or go mullet. Non-boost spacing on the hubs so 100mm and 142mm front and back. Tires are legit Schwalbe 2.6". Hubs are low quality Quanta brand and the rims are no-name but are double wall and seem pretty beefy, spokes are black steel with chrome nipples. Seat and seatpost seem ok also. Brake rotors are 1800mm front and back and brakes are 2 piston Magura. Stem and handlebars are fine. Shimano 10 spd Deore shifter and derailed are ok. The motor is the stock Bafang G510/M620 and the label on bottom says 52v I thought they all were 48v? I know the upgraded motor and Archon controller I got from Pushkar is labeled 48v and he knows I'm running a 52v battery so...?. Came with cranks and pedals which were wall mart stock.
So we replaced the 170mm crankarms with some 160mm and threw on some decent crankbros pedals. A new KMC E-chain and replaced the steel chainring as well with a race face 40t. We found a dropper for a good $ and installed that as well as a WTB seat. New grips and we were done with the bike portion that is.
So next up we fabricated up a template for the battery (52v 34.5ahr) and modified the original mounting pads to fit. Did a little rewiring on the motor leads and mounted the battery in it's bag and we were good to go.
My buddy has probably a dozen of so rides on it so far and he is really happy with the ride. He had a bit to much air in the rear shock and after bleeding off a bit it made a big difference in ride quality. I have ridden it 2x and the throttle works fine but the PAS is not as smooth as mine IMO. IMO is the bike worth a 3 month wait and have critical parts substituted with no recourse and a stock G510 motor all for 5k? I wouldn't do it again knowing what I know now. I would of bought just the frame maybe and got an upgraded motor from Mr. P and put my own parts on it. I bet for the same 5k I could of been better quality and it would of given me something to do. Live and learn. Looks like they are not stocking those bikes on that original site to sell. Covid, import issues? Hopefully the second bike gets here fairly soon and we can get that one running and move onto bigger and better things. Thanks for listening.
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Read again, look at first screen cap. In red. 
